7 months ago
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Lieutenant Governor (L-G) V.K. Saxena connected Tuesday ordered an Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) probe into the “extraordinary delays”, outgo escalations, and arbitration payouts plaguing the Barapullah Phase-III elevated roadworthy project, primitively sanctioned astatine ₹1,260 crore.
The project, linking Sarai Kale Khan to Mayur Vihar Phase-III, remains unfinished 8 years aft its 2017 deadline, with arbitration claims touching ₹760 crore, according to a connection from the L-G’s office. The L-G has directed the ACB to analyse the relation of Ministers, elder Public Works Department (PWD) officials, and different agencies successful the project’s delay.
“This prolonged hold has resulted successful outgo overruns moving into hundreds of crores, including arbitration penalties paid to the contractor,” the connection said. The probe follows a proposal from Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who raised the contented during a gathering of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) successful July.
Conceived successful 2011 and awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T), the 6.2-kilometre corridor was intended to easiness postulation crossed the Yamuna but has been stuck for years. A PWD enquiry committee formed successful November 2023 had blamed onshore acquisition and wood clearances for the delay, but Mr. Saxena rejected it arsenic “inadequate”.
“A task manager has the superior work to guarantee that operation proceeds arsenic per docket and each regulatory clearances are secured,” Mr. Saxena said, directing that accountability beryllium fixed across departments.
Financial losses
Multiple arbitration awards person compounded the project’s outgo overruns successful favour of the contractor. Of the ₹760 crore claimed, ₹255 crore has already been paid. In 1 large case, an grant of ₹121.95 crore positive involvement and GST successful May 2023 was not honoured successful time, prompting L&T to determination the Delhi High Court, which attached 3 PWD accounts and ordered a outgo of ₹170 crore.
After years of delays, PWD Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh has present acceptable an eight-month deadline to decorativeness the remaining enactment and unfastened the corridor by mid-2026. The L-G questioned the argumentation model that enables contractors to rise “exorbitant arbitration claims adjacent erstwhile astatine fault”. Drawing parallels with the Bharat Mandapam underpass project, besides executed by L&T, Mr. Saxena said akin inflated claims had emerged contempt “glaring engineering defects that risked nationalist embarrassment up of the G20 Summit”.
